The Malfoy Way
by Remo Con
Summary: There's a secret, a secret concering Harry and Severus along with the entire Malfoy family. Only one person knows it. The only problem is that person is stuck inbetween life and death in the middle of a veil...and that's the least of the problems.
1. Default Chapter

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DISCLAIMER: Let's think for a moment, shall we? J.K. Rowling has…a husband, two kids, and lots and lots of money. Now, let's compare that to me: no boyfriend much less a husband, not planning on kids and have none so far anyway, and I'm pretty much broke. So, with that said, who still thinks I'm J.K. Rowling? Besides, myself of course, after all, I am soooooo talented, Harry Potter MUST belong to me. lawyers glare at her Your absolutely right, Harry Potter MUSN'T belong to me, what a silly idea! Who ever said that? nervous giggle

PROLOGUE

"Well, Lucius, this is an interesting position I find you in," the dark lord said, coolly amused. Voldemort had set up base in Riddle Manor and warded the house carefully to prevent spies from going in and out without his knowledge, along with thieves and those who might wish him harm. He had expected to catch Snape, or even Potter or Dumbledore some time in the future within his spell net. But never had it crossed the dark lord's mind that he might find one of his most loyal followers trapped like a fly as his son and wife apparated to safety.

It was early morning and the sun had just barely risen, leaving the earth tinted with a soft pink glow. A bead of sweat rolled down Lucius's head. The pink color was beginning to remind him of red…red blood. Lucius's entire body was spread out, glued to the spider-like web of magic. The dark lord was looking quite impressive in his billowing black robes, the cool morning air blowing through the door entrance, at least what Lucius' body wasn't blocking, his red, snake-like eyes glittering maniacally. Lucius looked defiantly back. Even without the hordes of death eater behind him, Voldemort could still be terrifying and easily kill Lucius.

"May I inquire as to what you were doing in my manor this morning?" Voldemort asked, steel lining his words.

"Guess," Lucius snarled, his mind whirling around for possible ways to escape. He came up blank. Trying to calm himself Lucius knew he was at the mercy of the dark lord.

"Dear me, you weren't upset over my little kidnap of your family, were you Lucius?" Voldemort asked, acting falsely shocked. "Did you think I was going to let them go free, the little traitors."

"Go to hell," Lucius retorted. "You're the traitor, a traitor to your father and to your fellow wizards." Voldemort glared at Lucius for a moment.

"You don't think you're leaving, do you?" the dark lord said, surprising his captive. Lucius's silence was enough of an answer. "Well, don't think you'll be as lucky as that. You'll be leaving, and you'll be taking a little message back to Dumbledore for me…

Draco fought his mother's grip on him.

"We can leave him there!" he cried. "Voldemort will kill him!" But Narcissa would not release Draco.

"There's nothing we can do," she said softly. They were inside Malfoy Manor, the living room, just next to the fire. On the side of it was a jar of floo powder. Draco stopped struggling and went limp in her arms.

"It'll be all right someday," Narcissa murmured to her son. "Now let's go to Hogwarts, Sev will start to worry." Draco hugged his mother forcefully then let go immediately. Breathing hard he took a handful of floo powder and tossed it in the fireplace, stepping in.

"Hogwarts!" he shouted. The green fire consumed him and began to journey to the Hogwarts fireplace.

Severus Snape was pacing nervously in front of the fireplace in Dumbledore's office. The headmaster had been called away by the Order again. The summons had gotten more frequent ever since Sirius had fallen through the veil at the end of term. Sometimes it was urgent Order business, but mostly the werewolf or someone needed to talk to the headmaster, preventing him or herself from contemplating suicide. Severus broke of from his pacing and snorted. Even after all these years it still shocked him that Sirius had agreed to be the werewolf's mate, he had always thought his brother had been smarter than that, but oh well.

The fireplace suddenly filled with green fire and Draco tumbled out, followed shortly by Narcissa. He saw there tear-stained and pain-filled faces and knew that Lucius had been caught. He walked over and embraced both. Narcissa let go after a few moments but Draco began to sob and Severus held the boy for comfort, wishing for Draco's sake that it were Lucius here instead.

"You can't go back, Sev," Narcissa said once Draco had quieted. "Voldemort had but up new wards that catch spies."

"So, that' why…" Severus couldn't finish. It hurt too much to admit that his best friend was gone for good. Narcissa nodded, looking away as new tears filled her eyes.

"Where's Dumbledore?" Narcissa said to change the subject.

"Lupin called again," Severus said bitterly. Narcissa touched his arm in a comforting manner.

"You still should talk to someone, Sev," she said softly. "After all, you've just lost your twin." Severus refused to reply and Draco pushed away gently.

"So now what?" the teen asked. "Are we going to stay here the rest of the summer?" Both adults nodded.

"All right then," Draco said, cheering up a bit. But then he remembered. "What about Blaise, though? We can't leave him with his parents! They'll force him to take the mark!"

"Don't worry about it," Severus answered. "He's already here and waiting for you to arrive. Just go down to my quarters."

"Thanks," Draco said before jogging off.

"So now what Sev?" Narcissa asked once her son was gone.

"We wait for Dumbledore to come back," Severus said. "He says he has something he wants to talk to both of us about."

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CHAPTER 1

Sirius blinked. In front of him was an endless black space; behind him was a pearly white realm of clouds. But he could not move toward either. He forced his head up and saw he was stuck in the center of an archway.

What am I doing here? He tried to say, but the words would not come out. Well, this is an interesting predicament you've managed to get yourself in, Padfoot. He thought to himself. What exactly has happened here? As hard as he tried he couldn't remember anything except that he was Sirius Black.

Wait, that didn't sound quite right. Sirius- Sirius Orion something- Black- something. Now what were the something's? He tried to concentrate on finding out what the first something was. An image flashed through his mind, a man who resembled him so slightly it was barely recognizable and with him came a name: Severus- Snape. That was what the first something was! Sirius Orion Snape-Black- something.

Wait, there was something about Severus that nagged at the back of his mind, something he knew was important.

"Padfoot," said an echoed voice near his head. "Harry needs you to remember…as does Severus and the rest of your family." Harry, that sounded familiar. A new image came into his mind, a fifteen-year-old boy with messy black hair and bright green eyes. He seemed almost too skinny but he was still smiling and saying something. It looked like he was trying to say Sirius.

Then it came back to Sirius, everything. His name was Sirius Orion Snape-Black-Malfoy, and he was the only person who knew that Severus Snape was Harry Potter's real father. Only problem with that was how was he supposed to let someone know, and let someone know he had too…otherwise it would be the end of his family for good.

Remus Lupin now felt extraordinarily foolish. The headmaster had better things to do than listen to his whining and crying on a daily basis. But he now felt better to find that Dumbledore had something for him to do.

"Remus," Dumbledore said seriously. "I need you to go and get Harry." Well, that was slightly unexpected, Remus thought.

"Isn't he going to stay with the Weasly's this summer?" he asked. "I thought- I thought we had all agreed that it would be better if he didn't come here this summer."

"And he's not," Dumbledore replied. "In fact, I do believe it would be better if you left here for a while, and not on a mission for the Order either."

"I don't want to go to Hogwarts for the summer," Remus said. "It wouldn't be any better."

"Oh, I don't expect you to spend your summer at the school," the headmaster said pleasantly. "While you'll indeed stop there, I was thinking that you might benefit from spending some time with Sirius's family." Something wasn't right with that statement in Remus's mind.

"Sirius doesn't, didn't have any family," he said, protesting slightly. Dumbledore smiled indulgently.

"Go get Harry and his things then bring him to Hogwarts, I think you might be surprised to find out some things about Sirius that he never told you, with good reason of course," Dumbledore added, not wishing to offend the young werewolf. "See you at Hogwarts in a little while." The headmaster stood up and flooed back to his office, leaving Remus slightly confused at to what the headmaster had been talking about. But nevertheless he got up and walked out of Grimwauld before apparating to number 4 Privet Drive.

Harry Potter wished summer vacation was over and yet at the same time wished it would never end. His mind could not stop replaying Sirius falling into the veil over and over and he knew that being around other people, other wizards, would not help. They would want to be sympathetic and pity him and he did not want that. At the same time, however, he could not wait to leave the Dursley's who would not spend more than three minutes in his presence, perhaps talking to someone might be of some use to get his mind of Sirius. As you can see, his dilemma was currently quite unsolvable.

Harry was sitting on the steps of the house, watching as random people walked by, or worked out in their yards. But he was most shocked when Remus Lupin suddenly appeared on the sidewalk just in front of number 4.

"Harry!" he called, walking over.

"Pro- Remus!" Harry said, quite surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Professor Dumbledore asked me to come and bring you to Hogwarts," Remus answered. "So if you'll go get your things we can be on our way." Harry began to eye him mistrustfully. At the end of the year, when the Order had…talked to…the Dursley's no one had said anything about coming to get him only two weeks into the summer.

"What's my patronus's form?" he asked, knowing that only the real Remus would be able to answer.

"A stag," Remus replied, knowing why Harry had asked that. "Now do you want my help getting your trunk?"

"Ah, no," Harry said quickly, knowing it would not please the Dursley's to know that a wizard was in their house. Of course they would not be happy to know a wizard was just outside their house either, so either way they were already miserable since Remus was there already. "I'll be back in a minute or two." He dashed inside and up the stairs. Entering his room he quickly gathered his clothes and books and stuffed them in his trunk, grabbing Hedwig in her cage and bringing them downstairs. On the way he met Dudley.

"Where are you going?" Dudley wanted to know, actually communicating with Harry for the first time all summer. "Mum and dad won't like it if you leave now and come back in a little while."

"Don't worry," Harry said, brushing past his cousin. "You won't see me until next summer, if ever again." The last that Harry saw of Dudley he was looking quite delighted, possibly at getting full use of the second bedroom again.

"Take my hand Harry," Remus instructed as he came outside. "We'll be apparating to Hogsmeade then walking the rest of the way to Hogwarts." Harry nodded and placed his hand in Remus's. Then they were gone. The next door neighbor rubbed her eyes then shook her head and went inside muttering about over-exposure in the sun driving a person to see things.

Narcissa was seated while Severus leaned against her chair. Dumbledore sat behind his desk.

"They'll be here soon," he told the two younger people. "And then we can begin." But what was going to begin wasn't what anyone was quite expecting.

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All right, first off please review and tell me what you think, I simply can't go on without your comments and thoughts on my abysmal writing. snorts not that anyone cares sigh anyhow, Please Review and go check out my bio to read the Twins Challenge, how many of your think you can write it? Remo


	2. Chapter 2

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Disclaimer: Hi, I'm I-Still-Don't-Own-Harry-Potter. How are you doing, Miss/Mr. No-Really-I-Was-So-Sure-You-Did-?

CHAPTER 2:

"Welcome, Harry, Remus," Dumbledore said graciously as the two stepped in.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Harry exclaimed, unable to help himself upon seeing Snape. Then he spotted Narcissa. "And her! What exactly is going on?" Neither of them made any sort of replies to his outburst.

"I have to say I'm a bit curious as well," Remus admitted, eyeing Narcissa mistrustfully. After all, she was the reputed wife of a well-known death eater.

"It's simple, and quite brilliant if I do say so myself," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling madly. "You've all just lost Sirius, so I thought it would be good if you all spent the summer together. You and Harry could learn more about him, Remus. And Severus and Narcissa are most interested in hearing about your experiences with him."

"Why?" Harry said, glaring at Dumbledore. "And if you expect me to spend the summer with them, you're out of your mind!" Narcissa laughed a little.

"I can see why he liked you, you've got a lot of spunk kid, not afraid to speak your mind," she commented. "It's really a shame you and Draco never got around to being friends, but it couldn't be helped."

"Perhaps over the summer they might be able to know each other a bit better," Severus suggested, a smile playing on his lips. Harry stared, Snape was smiling?

"Um," Harry tried to say something, but nothing would come to his mind.

"Maybe I should explain myself," Dumbledore said, grinning almost sheepishly. "Severus is Sirius's twin, Narcissa is their younger sister."

"What?" Harry and Remus exclaimed together.

"But- but, you-you," Harry stammered. "You can't stand each other!" Snape blushed! Good God he blushed!

"We did get a little carried away with the whole sibling rivalry once we got into Hogwarts," he admitted. "But we never hated each other and in the end it was really just acting for everyone who needed to think I was a death eater."

"You don't have the same last name!" Harry protested.

"Technically, yes we do," Severus corrected. "We just go by different parts of it."

"Different parts?" Remus said, curious.

"Then what's your whole name?" Harry had to know.

"Snape-Black-Malfoy," Severus said hesitantly.

"Malfoy?" Harry exclaimed, turning to look at Narcissa. "Then you married your, what is Mr. Malfoy, your cousin or something?"

"No," Narcissa said. "He's more like your uncle. No blood relative of mind since he was born a Potter after all."

There was only one problem that Sirius could find with his current situation, and that was he had absolutely no idea of how to get out of it. Which then caused a whole lot of other problems and could inevitably cause the end of the world. He mentally sighed, still unable to actually open his mouth.

"Padfoot," said the voice again. This time someone else echoed it.

"Sirius." Now he was getting a little ticked off, the voices sounded so familiar, yet…

"Don't let us down now, Padfoot," said the first voice, sounding vaguely amused. "You don't really expect us to believe you've forgotten us." That was it.

James, Lily! He tried to call out. Although he made no noise they still seemed to hear him.

"Turn around, Sirius," Lily said in a commanding tone. And shockingly he turned around to face the pure whiteness in which his best friend and his wife stood, watching him seriously (no pun intended).

"Now Padfoot, why aren't you thinking?" James asked, clicking his tongue in a disapproving manner.

You sound like my mother, Sirius thought with a little chuckle. James scowled at him.

"Very funny," James said. "Now Padfoot, listen closely. You're in between life and death. Right now you can go either way, but you know that if you come this way and you die that the rest of the world will soon follow, staring with your family. So think hard Padfoot. There's only one way to go back to the realm of life and that's…"

"Hey Draco!" Blaise said cheerfully before he got a good look at his best friend. When he did his own spirits drooped. "What happened mate?"

"My dad," Draco whispered hoarsely. "He came to save me and mom from Voldemort but he got caught."

"Oh, I'm so sorry man," Blaise said sympathetically. He knew everyone in the Malfoy family was close to one another and Lucius had been a nice guy. But no one was captured by the dark lord and left alive after directly disobeying orders.

"Yeah," Draco sighed. "But you know what really gets me mad?"

"What?" Blaise said, wondering what could be worse.

"Mom and Uncle Severus are upstairs having a secret meeting with Dumbledore and they sent me down here," a gleam came into Draco's eyes that Blaise had gotten to know well.

"'Course, they want both of us to eavesdrop," he said casually. "It wouldn't be any fun it you had to repeat it to me afterwards." Draco grinned mischievously.

"Exactly. So what are we still doing here? To the vents!" The vents are a complex system of pipes that are used to heat the castle only when the first set dies and the fireplaces can no longer be lit. So they don't get a lot of use and Draco and Blaise had managed to map them all out, using them to get from one place in the castle to another quickly. And wasn't it convenient for them that the headmaster's office was directly two flights up? They would be there in less than four minutes.

"Well, Lucius," Voldemort said. "It's time for you to go home."

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Bows head in shame I'm so sorry it's so short, but I promise to work harder next time! And you were so nice and you reviewed to! I feel awful, well, almost. See my dad took me shopping yesterday (since I've got no money of my own) and I go _Marmalade Boy 5, Kodocha: Sana's Sage 2, Dragon Knights 3, Girl Got Game 2 _**(all manga books which I'm shamefully addicted to) and**_ The True Meaning of Cleavage, The Wish List, Out of Time_ **and I'm just very happy (though I was an idiot and read all the manga and **_The Wish List_ **all since yesterday afternoon, now I'm down to the two other books sigh). Anyway, when I get all these books I get kinda spazy with my wacko happiness and tend to write worse (in my opinion) so I hope this isn't too bad, PLEASE REVIEW! Remo**


	3. Chapter 3

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Disclaimer: Usually by now I wouldn't bother with one of these, but for this story it need the extra words, so… believe it or not I'm still Not-In-Possession-Of-Severus-Remus-Sirius-Draco-Lucius-Or-Any-Harry-Potter-Characters. Who woulda thought?

CHAPTER 3:

"What do you mean he was a Potter?" Harry asked, a wee bit confused and angry about it.

"What do you know about you family?" Severus answered in reply.

"Ah, well, I," Harry thought hard and realized that no one, ever, had told him anything about his family beyond his mother and father. He didn't even know if his grandparents were alive! Although he had a suspicion that they weren't, otherwise it would have been pointless to have sent him to the Dursleys.

"Nothing, right?" Severus prompted. Harry nodded shamefully, dropping his gaze to the floor. "Well, I don't really want to be the one to tell you, but they weren't very nice people, Harry. I'm sure you know how a lot of purebloods think any muggle born are scum. Well, the Potters were very, very against this. So against this, in fact, that when Lucius was sorted into Slytherin they disowned him."

"What?" Harry gasped, looking quickly up at Snape. "They disowned him for getting into Slytherin? That's, that's awful!"

"Yes, but it was their philosophy that being among the 'worst' kind of witches and wizards would 'contaminate' their son, and they didn't want it to spread to the rest of their bloody family," Severus snorted.

"What happened to him, then?" Remus asked, interested. He hadn't known this and James had been one of his best friends.

"Our family took him in," Narcissa replied. "We're cousins to the Potters, but we had no contact whatsoever. He was sort of adopted into the family and when we married he took my name, though he had already been using it for the past seven years, he wanted to make it official."

"I have a question," Harry said, looking hard at the wall now. "Not to be rude or anything, but isn't Lucius a loyal death eater?" Narcissa and Severus laughed a little at this.

"Did you really think I was Dumbledore's only spy?" Severus asked when he had finished. "Not a very secure way of gathering information, really. What if I had been caught?"

"I hadn't thought of that," Harry said, blushing slightly.

"All right, Harry, enough talking here," Dumbledore said brightly. "Time to go to Snape Manor!"

"What?!" Everyone in the office turned around in time to see Draco and Blaise fall from somewhere in the ceiling down to the floor.

"Ow, ow, ow," they both said, getting up slowly.

"Potter's staying with us?" Draco demanded. "Why?"

"Because he's your cousin," Narcissa said in a scolding manner.

"So," Draco said, glaring at his mother. "He's a stuck of little-"

"I'd stop now," Narcissa said. "Before you say something you'll really regret."

"Fine," Draco said sulkily. "But Blaise is still coming, right? You don't expect me to spend the whole summer with St. Potter with no company do you?" Harry snorted at Draco's comments, much like Severus had earlier.

"St. Potter?" he said. "Stuck up? Where do you get this?"

"Save it," Severus said. "Both of you. Let's go and then you can argue all you little hearts desire while not in my hearing range."

"Yes, Uncle Sev," Draco said while Harry said, "Fine Professor Snape."

"Just call me Severus," he said to Harry. "Since we're going to be seeing a lot more of each other."

"All right, line up all of you," Narcissa directed. "And take a handful of this. You know what to do." Harry grimaced as he realized they were using floo powder. He hated floo powder, absolutely hated it.

"…to want to go back more than anything," James finished. Sirius looked at him.

I do want to go back more than anything, he thought. But I'm still here. There's obviously something wrong with that idea.

"No, Padfoot," James said. "You're going about it wrong. You have to think about the reasons you want to go back until you feel really, really inspired by one. It's a bit like needing a happy thought to conjure a Patronus."

"Start with the little things first," Lily instructed. "And then build up to the biggest reason of all. If done correctly you should be back in no time."

All right then, Sirius thought determinedly. What do I want to go back for? Food, sleeping, Quidditch, my comic book collection, the Order, my parents, Draco, Narcissa, Severus, Remus, and Harry. Then it happened, a seemed like a big flash of light consumed Sirius and then tossed him back into the darkness. He had to shut his eyes, it was so, so bright.

When he opened them again he was in the Ministry, the Department of Mysteries to be exact. Right in front of the worm, fluttering veil.

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Quivers in terror Sorry its so short! Don't hurt me! I promise, promise to do better next time! Really, I mean it! I had lost the reason I was writing this story for a moment but I've got it back, promise! So PLEASE REVIEW and I'll post up the next chapter soon!

Please say this chapter was better than the last, God I hated it! I might go back and redo it sometime, shakes her head er, maybe not. I'm a bit lazy. Remo


	4. Chapter 4

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Disclaimer: Hem, hem. Class, my name is Professor Remo and I am not the creator, nor owner of Harry Potter or anything related to it. I am, however, the author of this story. And I'm author of Gemini, Star In His Sky. At least that's what it's supposed to be called, I believe I missed a word when I typed it out however. Anyway, I beg of you to read and review it. It's really quite good! I promise, and here's what the on-line summary doesn't tell you: _Gemini is Sirius's daughter!_** I swear, if you read it you won't regret it, so please, check it out!!!!!!!!!!!!1**

CHAPTER 4:

"So," Harry said, looking around in t he utmost surprised way. He had been expecting something like Grimmauld, cold and uninviting. But Snape Manor was well lit and had a warm, friendly feeling about it. The hard wood floors were well polished and the walls painted a soft blue. Still portraits of various people, beautiful paintings of sunsets and sunrises, photographs, oddly unmoving, of people from distant centuries hung from the walls. A long sofa stood to the left side of the room. In front of it, a bit off to the side, was a large comfy chair. Then on the other side were two more chairs just like the first.

Harry then saw something that really surprised him. "A television? But I thought-"

"That our family was into the pureblood mania thing?" Severus said casually. Harry nodded, not ashamed to admit it. After all, it would be more embarrassing to lie since Snape clearly already knew his answer. Severus smiled at his honestly.

"Well, after we all get settled I'll give you a bit of a history lesson so you'll feel more comfortable and at home with us."

"All right," Harry agreed.

"Come with me, Remus," Severus said to the werewolf who had been likewise studying the room. "I'll show you where you'll sleep." Remus nodded and followed the other man out of the room. Narcissa clapped her hand together once they had left to get the three boys' attention.

"All right, Draco, Blaise," she said, looking sternly at them. "Show Harry where you three will be staying for the summer."

"What?" Draco said horrified. "He's sleeping in the same room as us?"

"Yes," Narcissa answered. "And he is to be treated like any of your other friends, Draco. Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Draco mumbled, not meeting his mother's eyes. He looked over at Blaise and they met each other's gaze with a silent understanding. "All right, Potter, come with us." The three left the room in silence but once they were well out of hearing range Harry spoke up.

"Are you actually going to listen to your mum?" he inquired of Draco. "Because I don't want you being nice to me on her account."

"Listen, Potter," Draco snarled. "I don't know if you understand this but my father has just been taken prisoner by the dark lord. The chances of his survival are slim to none. So if my being nice to you makes my mother happy, that's what I'll do. Got it?" Harry was surprised at the response.

"I suppose in some way I do," Harry said quietly. "But I could never totally understand what it's like having parents."

"Why not?" Draco said as they trekked up the stairs. "Didn't you grow up with that muggle family?"

"Yeah," Harry said, shrugging. "But they were never a family to me. They took me in because Dumbledore told them to and not because they wanted to. And they've never let me forget that."

"Huh," Blaise said. "Imagine that, out of the three of us, Draco's the only one with a decent home life and now none of us are going to. The dark lord will hunt down him and his family until they're all dead for his father's betrayal."

"Here," Draco said suddenly. "Come on-" And one could assume he was going to say "in" but he never got to finish. His mother's sudden scream cut him off.

"Mum," he shouted running back down the stairs, taking three at a time. Blaise and Harry rushed after him. Narcissa was standing outside next to a still figure on the ground. She was sobbing over it, the ground already wet with her tears. Draco tentatively walked over and put a hand on his mother's shoulder.

"No," he gasped upon seeing who it was. The door flew open once more and Severus exited.

"Oh my God," Snape exclaimed. "Lucius!"

Sirius stood up, his legs shaking violently. It took him a moment to take in all that had just happened.

"James," he murmured. "Lily. Was that really you guys?" He closed his eyes to picture the two phantom figures that had helped him get out of that terrible place in between. It had looked like them, sounded like them, hell he had felt that he had been around them again. But still he didn't want to get all happy about seeing them. Even if it truly had been them, they were still dead, and he was now alive again.

"Harry!" he whispered suddenly with a jolt of remembrance. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts Sirius seized upon one thing, getting to his godson. So he started walking toward the exit. His legs trembled and protested but refused to let them give out. So slowly but surely Sirius reached the door. He pulled it open with some of the last remains of strength he had and stepped out.

There was no one in the hall, but then, in the Department of Mysteries there never really was anyone in the hall ever. Which is part of why this whole situation was happening, he should never have gone to limbo in the first place! Grinding his teeth together in irritation Sirius made a mental note to complain to the minister of magic once Voldemort was defeated.

Letting go of the door handle Sirius walked onward toward the final exit door. He wrenched that one open as well and stormed into the elevator. There were few people in the elevator but each and every one of them knew who he was.

"Oh my God, it's Sirius Black!"

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bows head in shame Please forgive me! I promise, it won't (well, more than likely it will but maybe not again on this particular story…) happen again! I'm so sorry! It's been ages since I updated! Well, I hope this chapter was worth it. So what'd you think? Better than the last chapter? (this comment has been directed at agge? Is that your name?) And to everyone else, Please Review!

- I swear I'll update sooner this time! Please don't abandon me! Remo


	5. Chapter 5

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Disclaimer: Hem, hem. Class, my name is Professor Remo and I am not the creator, nor owner of Harry Potter or anything related to it. I am, however, the author of this story. No, really I am? You don't believe me? Why not? Oh…because I fell of the face of the earth for a while. Right…..my bad.

CHAPTER 5

Indeed it was Lucius. A faintly alive, covered in blood and dirt but still breathing, Lucius. Narcissa was weeping half in joy to have her husband back and half in sorrow over his condition.

"Dad," Draco said in amazement. He couldn't believe it. His father was back- he wasn't a corpse, he wasn't a pile of ashes- he was back and he was alive! Draco supposed that the situation was somewhat similar to the story of Lazarus from the bible. Minus the Son of God, the apostles, and the perfect health of the dead man.

"We have to get him inside," Severus said, and urgent note in his voice. "It won't do him any good to stay out here."

"You're right," Narcissa said, wiping her eyes. "I'll help you carry him."

"It's all right, I can do it myself," Severus said.

"Wait," Harry said suddenly.

"What?" the three Malfoys said together.

"You've all been telling me how he was going to be killed by Voldemort (there were several flinches) how he would never be seen alive again. And how, miraculously he's here?" Harry said demandingly. "No way. I know Voldemort (more flinches) better, probably, than anyone. He doesn't let people go. He doesn't show mercy. How can you be sure this is actually Lucius Malfoy? What if its an imposter?"

"It's not," Severus said firmly.

"Fine," Harry continued on, unshaken. "If it's not an imposter then what if there's a spell on him? What if he's being used?"

"Then that's a chance we'll have to take," Severus snapped. "We can't leave him out here to die."

"What if you heal him and he kills all of us," Harry said darkly.

"Shut up," Draco hissed. "We're saving my dad. Period. If you can't live with that, fine. Talk to Dumbledore about him. But we are going to heal him, no matter what you say." Harry looked at them, believing still that he was right, but he said nothing and let Severus pick Lucius up and bring him inside.

"Remus," Severus said after he had laid Lucius down on the couch in the living room. "Can you contact Poppy? We'll need her here- soon." Remus nodded.

"I'll get on it," he said and left.

"We must have bandages in here somewhere," came Narcissa's frustrated cry as she rummaged around in the downstairs bathroom.

"I'll go look around!" Blaise yelled to her.

"Thank you," she said, coming back into the room. She looked disheveled, all the crying leaving streak marks on her face. Harry felt a major twinge of compassion for the family as they all stood near Lucius, worry painted on their features.

"I'll go get some water," Draco said finally. "We'll need it to start washing his cuts." Narcissa nodded. Draco quickly left the room and soon the sound of running water could be heard coming from in a nearby room.

"Is, is there anything I can do?" Harry blurted out on impulse. Severus and Narcissa looked at him, shocked. Harry felt a sharp stab of guilt. They didn't really trust him in this matter. Not after he had made such a big fuss about not thinking it was a good idea.

"I really want to help," he said quietly.

"Thank you," Narcissa said after a moment. "But there's really nothing you can do."

"Oh," Harry said, disappointed. "OK." He leaned against the wall, feeling out of place. He hadn't known Lucius, and yet these people would be devastated if he were to die right here in front of them. Harry had no idea what he could do if that happened.

_Please_, he prayed, not knowing who he hoped was listening, _Don't let him die. Even if I did think he was death eater. And even if he is under a spell. Sirius already died, don't make them lose someone else._ Although he didn't realize it, for the first time Harry acknowledged that someone else had felt the pain of Sirius's death. It was good step for him. Unfortunately at this point it was completely unnecessary.

"Yes, I'm Sirius Black," he said, stupidity winning him over for a moment. Then sanity came crashing down on top of him and he bit in tongue a few seconds to late to stop the damming words. The looks of the people in the elevator did not bode well for his near future.

"You're dead!" said one person.

"He's a murderer!" cried another. Sirius felt the familiar pang of annoyance. Why did everyone assume that he had killed all those people? Just because that damn rat put on a good show did not make him a psychotic murderer. Honestly. And just because he had been laughing as they had led him away, it did not mean he was losing grips with reality. Really, it had just been so unfunny he had to laugh at the irony of the situation. Impending doom can make a person hysterical you know.

"No lets not start with name calling," Sirius retorted. "For instance, I am not going to comment on that rat that is lying on your head pretending to be hair. So you shouldn't call me names, it is just plain rude." The occupants of the elevator were all frozen in terror, some with mouths gaping wide open. They looked rather like fish, their lips moving up and down but absolutely no sound coming out.

"Well if you lot aren't going to do anything," Sirius said, shoving his way into the small metal cage. Everyone else huddled together in the far corner. Scowling, he jabbed the up button in annoyance, heading toward the top floor. He tapped his foot impatiently as the elevator began the ascent up the floors.

_Elevators_, Sirius mused to himself, having nothing better to do to pass the time, _should really be more like teleporters. Just instantly get you were you want to do and they should not hold more than one person at a time, it would help cut down on uncomfortable situations such as this._

The elevator finally came to a halt, the door sliding open to reveal a vast first floor almost entirely covered with people. The trick, Sirius realized, would be getting across the floor without someone making a scene. Now how he would go about doing that, well, that he still had to work out.

Peter Petigrew entered his master's chambers to find the Lord Voldemort completely naked and lying on his bed.

"My-my lord," Petigrew squeaked, a blush covering his face.

"What is it, Wormtail?" Voldemort asked lazily, not even turning to look at the other man.

"I have news, my lord," Wormtail said, breathing heavily through his nose.

"News?" Voldemort sat up. It was then Wormtail noticed a figure lying next to his master. "About what?"

"About James Potter my lord," Wormtail said, shifting nervously from one foot to another. Voldemort smirked.

"I'm afraid, my follower, that you are second to come into that information," Voldemort said, shaking his head slightly at Wormtail's failure.

"Who is the first, my lord?" Wormtail had to know, hoping he wasn't exceeding any boundaries. He did not want to bring Lord Voldemort's temper down on him.

"Guess," Voldemort purred.

**__**

A new chapter! OMG! I never thought this would happen! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I swear, next time I'll even mention you all by name. Tonight, I'm simply glad I have a new chapter. I have a new chapter- wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow. I am in shock. I'm updating! Yay! So PLEASE REVIEW! If I get enough reviews, (since I'm feeling inspired right now) I'll post up another chapter! I hope you liked this one. Even you didn't, review anyway! Remo


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